Marketing is the department primarily responsible for developing the brand within 71% of organizations, with a further 18% leaving responsibility to the MD/CEO.

In terms of influence over the brand, marketing leads the way with 44%, followed by sales 39% and the MD/CEO 15%. 15% of the panel feel all departments have equal influence over an organization’s brand.

100% of the panel feel brand reputation is very important to their organization, however only 66% know they measure it.

Of those that do, the most popular measurement tools are customer focus groups 46%, on-going brand tracking research 38%, competitor analysis 36%.

The panel feels 40% of their department have high engagement levels with the brand, compared to 36% of the wider organization and 37% of their customers. It may be considered slightly worrying that the figure is higher for customer engagement than it is for their colleagues in other departments.

The panel also feel 24% of their department have low engagement levels for their brand, as opposed to only 19% of their customers. A potential problem?

61% of the panel feel there is a slight mismatch between what their customers and what their employees think of their brand. However 76% feel their own perception of their brand is similar to their customers’ perception.

In terms of the importance of their organization’s brand reputation to the panel personally, 24% say it’s essential - they’ll only work for an organization with a strong brand, whereas 59% say it’s very important – a key factor as to where they work.

None of the panel expects the economy to grow significantly over the next 12 months, with just under half expecting it to show some signs of growth (marginal). 19% expect it to shrink.

The figures for 3 years’ time are much more optimistic. Just over ¼ of the panel expects the economy to have grown significantly whilst a further 52% expect it to have grown marginally.

15% of the panel say they will increase headcount within their organization. Of the 54% who say they’ve reduced it, 39% may do so again.

50% of the panel feel their revenues will increase over the next 12 months, whereas 47% feel their profits will do likewise. For this to be correct then it would suggest that organizations are going to have to find those profits from elsewhere; reduced headcount, tighter cash flow and general cost cutting are all likely to figure prominently.

24% expect to see their budget increase compared to 40% who expect it to see it go the other way. The rest, 36% don’t see it changing.

34% of organizations expect to move some part of their business outside the US over the next 2 years. The most popular destinations are South / Central America and India.

The Obama Administration - There is no overwhelming satisfaction with the Administration’s handling of the economy, with only 5% feeling it has been very good and 36% acceptable. The majority of the panel feel either it could have been better, 24%, or very poor, 35%.

In terms of their optimism for the US economy, 35% are optimistic and 65% not so. However these figures are more positive than for the world economy where 22% are positive and 78% are not!

Richmond Events’ latest business panel report on research and development is now available. Headline findings include –

The average number of people working within an organisations' research function is 21.

55% of respondents have between 1-5 employees within their research function.

Around a third of the panel don’t have a specific research department yet allow whoever comes up with a new idea / product to research it themselves.

The average amount the panel commits to R&D as a percentage of their overall turnover is 4%.

80% of the panel say they purchase from external market research agencies - 20% regularly and 60% sometimes.

Organisations tend to undertake research more frequently with their customers than non customers.

The majority of the panel are positive in their views towards research - almost one third say it keeps them up with or ahead of competition whilst over half feel it greatly increases effectiveness / product development.

Well over half of organisations use their own employees to continually research their customers.

Just under half of the panel feel it is always almost money well spent. However it is closely followed by 45% who feel measuring ROI on R&D is more difficult.

On a less positive note only 39% of the panel use research to better understand their competition.

Richmond Events’ latest business panel report on employee engagement is now available. Headline findings include –

82% of the panel feel employee engagement is essential within their organisation, with a further 15% feeling it’s nice to have.

Only 70% of the panel say their organisations actually measure employee engagement. A worrying 4% are unsure if they do or not…

The panel feel that levels of employee engagement are higher within their department than they are for their organisation as a whole.

50% of the panel feel that engagement levels have increased within their organisations’ over the past 3 years.

The most popular measurement tools for employee engagement are questionnaires and appraisals. However, only 4% of the panel feel engagement questionnaires completely reflect the true feelings of their organisation.

The two most important factors in terms of employee engagement are good line management and a good leadership team.

The two areas needing most improvement are good line management and a good leadership team!